Oni Thornell Notes:

Notecard: How Dance and Music Impacted Slavery

  Quote: ”  Enslaved Africans used dance to celebrate, socialize, worship, pray, and relax. African dances often conjoined the spiritual and secular experience. African culture manifested through unique dances thrived in the American colonies. One African dance, the “Ring Dance,” featured barefoot men and women encircled, dancing rhythmically to the sound of their shuffling feet, clapping hands, and collective voice. In a concrete manner, African dance fostered a vibrant culture of resistance fueled by dance’s capacity to nurture unique cultural and ethnic heritages.”( Rodi,christopher dance in the colonial period) 

Paraphrase:

• Slaves used dance for celebrations, social events, worshiping and praying, and relaxing.
• Dance  tied daily life and religious beliefs together
• Dance was a form of rebellion for African Americans
• Dance was a big part of African Americans culture.
• African Dances were popular in American colonies.
• The whole dance is based on multiple people using their feet and hands to make noise
•  When they dance it is a form of rebellion against the slave owners
• Dancing and music really helped the African Americans be strong and get threw slavery.

Ideas: Dancing was such a big part of the lives, of African-American slave . Most slaves would probably have lost all hope if they didn’t have dance and music. Music and dance were a form of rebellion or escape. When people dance it takes them to a place of happiness, hope and away from their day to day life circumstances. Somewhere where they are not owned or forced to do anything. Most slave masters were trying to break their slave’s spirit and will, so they can perform the physical work of their masters. I can infer they didn’t necessarily care whether or not this person was mentally or physically healthy. Slave owners would prefer a “broken” person. Someone that wasn’t going to put up a fight or try to escape. By dancing and making music the slaves show that the owners, first of all,  that they hadn’t been broken by them being enslaved  but also didn’t have full control over them. These dances are also a way that the slaves were able to form a bond, cope with slavery and connect with one another. For example, the Ring Dance needs multiple people to use their feet and hands to make music so that others can all dance to it. I can infer that dance was, in general, a big part of the African Americans culture, a big part of what brought the community together, especially back in Africa. Something that I wonder is when would the slaves be able to gather together and dance? Would they have a special time? Was it when they were kept together at slave auctions? Wouldn’t they get in major trouble for making that much noise, make owners suspicious of their behavior, or even for being happy?

Emma Diamond Notes:

English Rules of the Balls

Source:

From the First Assembly minute book, 1746. “Speaking of Dancing.” Colonial Williamsburg , history.org/history/teaching/speakdan.cfm. Accessed 2 Nov. 2016.

Quote:

“No Lady to be admitted in a nightgown and no gentleman in boots.
Dancing is to begin precisely at 5 o’clock afternoon in the winter.
Each set not to exceed ten couples to dance but one country dance.
Couples to dance their minuets in the order they stand in their individual sets.
No dance to begin after 11 at night.
No tea, coffee, negus or other liquor to be carried into the dancing room.”

Paraphrase:

• balls were fancy meaning nobody was allowed without proper attire.
• There were specific times when dancing is to begin and end.
• In this case the dancing was to begin at 5 o’clock on the dot and end before 11 o’clock.
• There was a certain amount of couples allowed to dance at a time.
• In this case 10 couples were allowed.
• Certain things like drinks were certain things not allowed in the dance room. 

My Ideas:

As showed by this primary source, the English people had many rules about music and dance in the colonial period. Some of these rules make sense to me, but most of them seem like they were made for the sake of being made. The rule that makes sense is “No Lady to be admitted in a nightgown and no gentleman in boots.” This makes sense because dinner dances were extremely fancy and important to the English people. This means they would want everyone dressed for the formal event correctly. The other rules are confusing because they are very strict. The Powhatans and Africans didn’t have strict rules for their dances and music like the English did. They had specific dances, but nothing that restricted certain times of the day or how many people can dance at a time. I infer the enslaved Africans didn’t have rules about dance because they didn’t have time to come up with them and it would be really hard for them to follow rules while they were being forced to do work all day. The enslaved people would probably dance whenever they had the chance and it wouldn’t be for entertainment. The meaning of African slaves dancing was to send messages about surviving, getting through the day, and escaping. The Powhatans danced mostly for ceremonial reasons and probably had rules about which dances to do at which ceremonies. I wonder why the English people had all these rules. Maybe it is because they wanted to be proper and precise with everything. Throughout my research it has become clear to me that the English people cared a lot more about appearance than any of the other two cultures. For example wealthy, English children had to learn all the dances perfectly or they would be embarrassing their whole family. In the other cultures people learned the dances by seeing them and being around them forever. I wonder if dancing was fun for the English colonists. I also wonder why we don’t have fancy dances or rules about our arts today. When did this stop happening? I infer this stopped happening when people realized there was no point in having unnecessary rules and that having unique arts are important. This kind of reminds me of The Giver by Lois Lowry because it shows that difference is good and rules should be as limited as possible without the world being unsafe and chaotic. It is clear that the English people were expected to follow many rules and guidelines about their arts.